Clothes-line tightener.



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CLOTHES LINE TlGHTENaER. APHICATION FILED FEB. 11. 19H.

Patented. Nov. 2i?, i917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

LNVENTOP.

Unitarian sra 'i/VILLIAM LAVTSON MATE, OF EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA.

CLQTHES-LINE TIGHTENER.

Application filed. February 17, 1917.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that T, WILLIAM L. MAY a subject of the King of Great Britain, residingat Edmonton, in the Province of Alberta and Dominion of Canada, have invent ed new and useful Improvements in Clothes- Line Tighteners, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to tighteners for clothes lines, wires, and similar articles whose slack is to be taken up, and more especially to midline winders; and the object of the same is to produce a tightener of this class in the form of a reel having peculiar features of construction and operable by a handle detachably connected therewith so that the reel may be rotated until the line is taut and then disconnected and removed in order to permit the operator to use the handle elsewhere.

Details of construction are set forth more fully in the following specification and claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure l is a perspective view of this device applied to a clothes line and partly rotated by a handle, so that the beginning of the tightening operation is illustrated, this view being taken from what might be called the rear side. l

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the entire device.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the reel alone.

Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse sections on the line 4-4 and 5--5 respectively of Fig. 3.

This tightener -by preference is made in two parts, a handle H and a reel R, and these parts are capable of being connected so that the handle may be used for rotating the reel to put the line under tension, after which it is detached therefrom and removed as above suggested. Yet it is quite possible that in certain cases the reel could be rotated. by other means than the handle, as for instance by hand if a high degree of tension was not to be imparted to the line. l wish it understood that, while l have described this device as applicable and useful especially for tightening clothes lines and the like, it might be used as a fence wire tightn ener or for tightening some member that was under considerable tension, and in that case the handle would of course be necessary. The last-named element may well be made of wood; whereas l preferably make the reel of metal and probably of galvanized wire of considerable size so that it will not Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2*?, ildil'..

Serial No. 149,278.

be affected by the weather as it is to be left on the line after the latter is tightened.

T have called the metal element a reel because although it serves the function of a winding drum, it is not circular and it would not be strictly accurate to call it a d1-uml". However, it may be said to have inner and outer heads connected by a hub. En order to minimize the cost of production I make this element of stout galvanized wire or small size rod of galvanized material, all of one piece, and bent as hereinafter described and as illustrated in detail in the drawings. Commencing at the mid-length of the piece of wire at about the point l in Fig. 3, and reading to the left therein, I first form a loop defining an opening 3 of lizeyhole or ovoid shape with its smaller end adjacent the center or near to the point l, then carry thewire outward in an arm a whose length is substantially perpendicular to the plane of the loop, then bend the wire and form it into a hook whose shank 5 stands parallel with but remote from the lower side 6 of the loop, and nally bend the wire and deflect it slightly inward into a bill 7 which overlies the outer end of the loop and stands parallel therewith but remote therefrom, the tip 8 of the left-hand bill shown in Fig. 3 rising above the upper side of the loop as indicated. Beginning again at the center point l, the stretch 6 is carried over to the right and bent downward into another loop 2, then outward in a second arm 4 spaced slightly from the first to produce a slot or throat 9 between the two arms, then carried to the right in a second hook whose shank 5 stands parallel with the right-hand loop, and finally turned downward in a second bill 7 somewhat shorter than the rst bill 7 so that its tip 8 does not project. below the lower side of the right-hand loop 2.

Thus is produced a reel R which is made of stout wire as suggested and may be bent by any suitable machinery, although the process of its manufacture dees not enter into the present invention. It is quite possible, however, to malte this reel of other material than wire and to form it in other ways. Essentially it comprises an inner head made up of the two loops, a hub made up of the two arms and having a slot or throat 9 between them, and an outer head made up of the two hooks and their bills. The inner and outer heads will doubtless stand parallel with each other and the hub will connect themat their midlength and its slot or throat 9 open through the outer head for a purpose yet to appear.

The handle H comprises a wooden staff 10 of suitable length Vand suflicient size to give it the necessary strength, a pin 11 inserted in one face of the same near its inner end 12 as best seen in Fig. 2, and which pin may and probably will have a small head as shown; anda bolt 13" passing loosely through the stall' at a proper distance from the pin and having a head 14 of proper size topass through the large end of either opening 3 or 3 but not to pass through the small end thereof. The Shank of the bolt is carried to the rear side of the staftl and threadedas shown, and on the threaded end igplace'df a thumb'nut 15 whose wings enable it to be turned by hand. The remote or outer end of theV handle may be provided with a hand hold 16 as indicated in Fig. 1, orif great5 tension is to be applied to the line'thev handle or staff' may extend to both sides of the reel and may carry two hand holdsso that the operator can rotate it by both hands.

Such being the construction of thev two elements of my improved tightener, its application to and use on a line L as indicated in Fig. 1 is as follows: In using the device as a midline winder for taking up slack in a rope or wire, the line L initially hangs rather loose as herein indicated, and we are to assume Vthat both ends are fastened. lith the reel R applied to the handle H, the opera-tor approaches from what will be the far side in Fig. 1, and passes the slot or throat 9 of the reel astride the line L until the latter occupies a position about at the inidlength of the hub as geen in dotted lines in Fig. 2; and in this way the line can be threaded on to the reel at once and without changingthe shape of either. The operator now rotates the reel by its handle to the right (which would be to the left as shown by the arrow in Fig. 1) with the result that the'nndlength of the. line is wound around the hub in a double coil confined thereon by the inner and outer heads between which it accumulates. After the desired tension has been imparted to the line, the operator manipulates the handle so that first one bill is hooked under and theny the other bill is hooked over the line, after which he is freie to release the handle. Now on loosening the thumb nut 15 and pushing the shank of the bolt 13 slightly through the staff 10, its head 14: is freed from clamping action on the sides of the loop which it formerly engaged, and thenby moving the entire handle longitudinally with respect to the reel the heads of the bolt and pin are caused to move into the enlarged portions of the loops so that they can be laterally withdraivnV and entirely disconnected therefrom. This leaves the reel on the line, the bills of its hooks engaged over the same to prevent its rotation in a reverse direction under the tension; which hasv been imparted thereto, and of course the operator is free to carry the handle to thencXt reel and an adjacent stretch of line, and rotate it in the Same manner. Therefore one handle will answer for a number of reels if desired. Approaching the neXt reel, he inserts the head ofthe pin and bolt through the larger portions of the two loops, and'then moves the handle longitudinally with respect to the reel so Vas to carry these elements into their rsmaller ends and especially to carry, the shank of the bolt into the inner or Smaller end of thekeyehole opening or slot in the inner head of the reel, after which by tightening up on the thumb nutthe handle is clamped to the reel and the above described operation may be repeated. ln this way the device may be used' to tighten successive stretches of rope or wire, although if it is to be employed on the latter the length of the hub need not be so great as where it is to be used on rope of larger size. I would suggest that in tightening wire where two stretches are united, it might be well tov apply the `device near the point of union so that such point- 'vvmildJ be carried around 'withA the coils which are wound on the hub. If" the metallic reel is to be left as a permanent part of such a stretch, the union will thenbe reinforced by the convolutions of the coils which lie around it. When the device is used to connect two stretches of line instead of as a midline tightener, each stretch vis brought toward the reel, led' over one of the arms, and then carried laterally across the'staif to the back of the same, and the two stretchesfare tied or united loosely at the rear. The winding is'then done in the'manner above described, and finally the loose knot or union at the back is untied before the handle is removed-the projecting ends being cutoff to leave a neat jointj Especial attention is called to the fact that the slotted hub is of great advantage, its slot or throat9 opening through the frontV head so that the reel as a whole can be applied to the mid-length of 'a stretch of line without cutting the latter. The key-hole openingsv in the inner head serve as one element of a detachable connection between the reel and the'handle, the other element being the headed members herein described as a pin andv a bolt. While I have described and illustrated the reel as made of wire, it obviously could be made of sheet metal if the essential details of construction above described were embodied therein.

lVhat is described as new is 1. In a midline tightener, a reel comprising an inner' head having a pair of key-hole openings, an outer head having a central lli) slot, and a shank uniting said heads and having a slot registering with that of the outer head; combined with a handle for rotating said reel, and headed fastening devices on Said handle so spaced as to be adapted for passage through said openings.

2. A midline tightener comprising an inner head having a pair of key-hole openings, an outer head Yhaving a central slot, and a shank uniting said heads and having a slot registering with that of the outer head; and a handle consisting of a Staff, a headed pin rigidly seated therein, a holt movably seated therethrough and having its head disposed on the same side of the staff as the head of said pin and so spaced therefrom that both elements may be passed through said openings in the reel, and a thumb nut on the threaded end of said bolt.

3. In a midline tightener, the combination with a reel consisting of an inner head Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the having a pair of openings, a slotted hub, and an outer head having a slot registering with that of the hub and reversely disposed hooks; of means for rotating said reel, and headed fastening devices on said means spaced to pass through the openings in the inner head. v

A. In a midline tightener, the combination with a reel comprising inner and outer heads, the former having key-hole openings, a huh uniting said heads, and a hook on the outer head remote from said hub; of a Staff, fastening devices mounted therein and having heads or' a size to pass through said openings and spaced to simultaneously engage oorresponding ends thereof When the staii is moved longitudinally With respect to the reel7 and means for tightening one of said fastening devices in place.

In testimony whereof I aHiX my signature.

WILLIAM LAWSN MAY.

Commissioner o Patente,

Washington, D. C. 

